The notion of liberalisation on the Anti-Hadith Movement and its impact on society

Abstract

In the 18th century, the West pioneered a surge of modernisation as a force of imperialism created the idea of Islamic-oriented liberalisation in the West’s conquest countries. This Western European-led modernisation stems from the network of a capitalist economy, technological issues, social influence, and changes in political power worldwide. This perpetuated questions among Muslim philosophers about the weakness of Muslims and their decline, compared to the exponential growth of Western Civilisation. At the same time, rationalism and historical criticisms aided the reign of colonialists, becoming the prime motivation of European Orientalists to take a critical approach towards the study of hadiths in Islamic countries. There is a scarcity of Muslim scholars who are influenced and fascinated by Western Orientalists’ ‘new’ Islamic discourse and thinking, who then adapt them as an alternative solution to Muslim issues worldwide. Therefore, this article elaborates on Islamic liberalisation efforts, especially those that touch on the issues of hadiths raised by a group well-established as the Anti-Hadith Movement (AHM). Among the issues raised include the relevance of the hadiths’ teaching in a modern era as well as the authority of hadiths play-acting as a medium driving progress or regression. The outcome of the study finds that AHM invites implications and confusion to society in the form of Western thinking, as well as the civilisation that shapes Islamic modern thinking.